These are the orig­i­nal cuffs owned and worn by Coco Chanel that have been fea­tured in so many his­tor­i­cal pho­tographs. They were cre­ated by Fulco Ver­dura who first worked for Chanel as her tex­tile designer. Inspired by his inven­tive twists on tra­di­tion, she later asked him to re-design the ances­tral jew­elry that had been given […]

Get­ting clipped can do won­ders for your vis­age and an asym­met­ri­cal neck­line. Notice the bal­ance Jen­nifer Lopez achieves with those absolutely spec­tac­u­lar ear clips from Cartier. What I par­tic­u­larly like here is that the ear­rings read more like an over­sized huggy, which side steps the some­times dis­tract­ing exag­ger­a­tion of a big hoop. The expanse of […]

Every­one needs a bit of fan­tasy in their life. That’s where cos­tume jew­elry plays a big role in a wardrobe. If you can’t do the state­ment neck­lace for real, then just fake it! Among all my col­leagues, friends, and collector-acquaintances, there isn’t a closet that doesn’t con­tain a great faux neck­lace. I’ve had the privilege […]

Pat­tern. It’s the word on every styl­ist and editor’s lips these days. The New York Times’ Ruth La Ferla did a story about the way women are putting together a pot­pourri of tex­tiles crazy with color and swirling in scheme. This look isn’t for every­one, and that’s why Heaven made jew­elry. One of the gentler […]

I adore an anklet in sum­mer, how­ever, I think that this one will do year-round. Crafted of solid gold and set with dia­monds and rubies, this nineteenth-century exam­ple was worn for cer­e­mo­nial dis­play when pre­sented at court (Maharajah’s put their best foot for­ward — the right — on these occa­sions). To wear one rep­re­sented a […]

ALWAYS IN STYLE: 150 YEARS OF ARTISTIC JEWELS is the title of Sotheby’s upcom­ing jew­elry sale on April 20^th. It is a sin­gle owner col­lec­tion of pieces that are not only clas­sic but would rock any wardrobe, in any cen­tury. This double-duty pendant-brooch was cre­ated by U.S. man­u­fac­turer Mar­cus & Co. in 1900 and it […]

I’d like to intro­duce a new cat­e­gory of posts enti­tled Work­ing Girl Col­lectible. They reflect not just the eco­nomic cli­mate we are liv­ing in, but will also offer smart, real­is­tic options for col­lect­ing jew­elry that has a sense of value — the types of pieces that will retain their artis­tic integrity, and hope­fully in the […]

*Flow­ers seem intended for the solace of ordi­nary human­ity.  ~John Ruskin *With daf­fodils mad foot­notes for the spring, And asters pur­ple aster­isks for autumn — ~Con­rad Aiken, Pre­ludes for Mem­non, 1930 *I’d rather have roses on my table than dia­monds on my neck.  ~Emma Gold­man Ah-hem…Ms. Gold­man, let’s not rush to judg­ment, shall we?. What if […]